News Flash (11th May 2020): Top 12 Stories Of The Day

1. Class 10 students of Punjab to be promoted on basis of pre-board results

The students of class 10 of Punjab will be promoted to the next class on the basis of marks scored in pre-board examinations. The Punjab state government has also decided to promote students of Classes 6 and 8 to the next classes. The Punjab government made this decision of promoting the 10th class students after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced that the pending Class 10 and Class 12 board exams would be held between 1 and 15 July. For Class 11 and 12 exams, the Punjab government, as reported by The Tribune, will abide by the Centre’s guidelines.

2. Samsung plans to launch its virtual smart debit card after rival Apple

After Apple received a massive success of Apple credit card, Samsung too is working on its creating its own physical and virtual smart debit cards to enable customers to buy things online as well as in retail stores. “As a first step to this broader vision, this summer Samsung in partnership with SoFi will introduce a new Samsung Pay experience with an innovative debit card backed by a cash management account. We are excited to share more details in the coming weeks,” said Sang Ahn, Vice President and GM of Samsung Pay. 

3. Hyundai produces 200 cars on 1st day after restarting operations

Hyundai Motor India Ltd. rolled-out 200 cars on the first day after restarting its production plant at Sriperumbudur, Chennai. The company has begun re-operating and is taking all the necessary measures to maintain social distancing and complying with the standard operating procedure. Other automobile majors, including Maruti Suzuki India, Mercedes-Benz, TVS Motor, and Royal Enfield, too will resume production at their respective manufacturing units by adhering to the relaxation of guidelines laid down by the government for the third phase of lockdown.

4. Contactless UV device to sanitize phones, currency notes developed by DRDO

A DRDO ( Defence Research and Development Organisation) lab in Hyderabad has built a  Contactless Sanitisation Cabinet named as Defence Research Ultraviolet Sanitizer (DRUVS) that sanitizes mobile phones, iPads, laptops, currency notes, challans etc. The proximity sensor switches that are installed and clubbed with the drawer opening and closing mechanism makes the device’s functioning automatic and contactless. 

5. 2.7 bn gamers across the world to spend $159.3 bn on games in 2020

2.7 billion gamers existing in the world are predicted to spend a total of approximately $159.3 billion on games in the year 2020, growing 9.3% year-on-year, mentioned a report released by market researcher Newzoo. Growing at a compound annual growth rate of 8.3%, this figure will be crossing  $200 billion by the year 2023. The maximum revenue to be generated from mobile games will be somewhere around $77.2 billion in 2020.

6. Russian rocket breaks above the Indian ocean leaves debris in orbit

On 8th May, a Russian rocket broke up in the Earth’s orbit above the Indian ocean and has left its debris in the orbit. This poses a threat to other satellites present in the earth’s orbit. Russia’s space agency ROSCOSMOS said the ‘Fregat-SB upper stage rocket’ was used to deliver the Russian scientific satellite Spektr-R to the orbit in the year 2011. The rocket broke up into 65 pieces but there was no clear evidence of its collision with any other object. “Currently we are working to collect data to confirm the quantity and orbit parameters of the fragments,” the agency further added.

7. Tendulkar & Jayasuriya picked as openers by Tilakaratne Dilshan in his best ODI XI

Former Sri Lankan cricketer Tillakaratne Dilshan named his best ODI XI from among his teammates and also those he played against. He picked Sachin Tendulkar, the only Indian cricketer to cut through and Sanath Jayasuriya as openers, followed by other cricketers that included Brian Lara, Mahela Jayawardene and Ricky Ponting. The Sri Lankan cricketer further picked Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers with Wasim Akram, Courtney Walsh, Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne in the team.

8. Fossil of 250 mn-yr-old marine reptile had pebble-shaped teeth to crush prey

An ancient marine reptile named Cartorhynchus lenticarpus, belonging to an extinct group of reptiles known as ichthyosaurs that swam in the oceans nearly 250 million years ago had evolved with unusual pebble-like teeth which it used to crush hard-shelled prey. Scientists found this while studying the creature’s fossil. Though the ancestry of these animals is not known, experts believe they might be “more closely related to crocodiles and dinosaurs and birds than they are to lizards and snakes”, as mentioned in The Independent. The remains of these creatures’ are found in Anhui province, China. 

9. WhatsApp to add a shortcut for Facebook Rooms on its desktop version

After Facebook launched its video conferencing platform named Messenger Room, WhatsApp Web is now working to integrate the two for better user experience. WhatsApp Web is creating a shortcut for Messenger Room which will enable people to host a video conference by creating a room right from Messenger or Facebook and then invite anyone to join through links. The number of participants who can join the room will be fixed at 50. 

10. India firm makes 1cr real-time COVID-19 test kits each costing Rs 500

An Indian firm based out of West Bengal named GCC Biotech India has successfully developed 1 crore COVID-19 testing kits, with each kit costing Rs 500 only. The original cost of conducting a COVID-19 test is Rs 4,500, however, with these newly developed kits, the testing process in India is undoubtedly going to get easier. “After two months of R&D [research and development], we made this kit. It is cost-effective as it contains all reagents produced by us. We have made 1 crore test kits and have 40 lakh in store. If India can do 3 lakh tests per day, we’ll be able to support the government without any problems,” said  R Majumdar, the managing director of GCC Biotech India while talking to ANI. The firm received approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on 1st May to produce more of these kits. 

11. Govt to restart passenger train service from May 12

As a step towards slowly easing the lockdown restrictions, the centre has taken a major decision to restart the Indian Railway service for its passengers from May 12. As mentioned in the Indian Express, “Initially, the Railways will run 15 pairs (30 return journeys) of air-conditioned “special trains”, modeled on the Rajdhani, connecting 15 major cities with New Delhi. Eight of these (16 return journeys) from New Delhi to Mumbai, Patna, Kolkata, Dibrugarh, Jammu Tawi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Bhubaneswar, will run daily.” The booking for reservation in these trains has already commenced.

12. ‘Laxmi Bomb’ & ‘Gilabo Sitabo’ will be released online

Amidst the lockdown that has affected the Bollywood industry just like any other industry, the makers of the film ‘Laxmi Bomb’ & ‘Gilabo Sitabo’ have now decided to release their films online. While Laxmi Bomb starring Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani was scheduled to release on May 22 in the theatres, Gilabo Sitabo starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Amitabh Bachchan was to be rolled out in April. Given the lockdown situations, ‘Laxmi Bomb’ & ‘Gilabo Sitabo’ are said to be released on Disney+ Hotstar and  Amazon Prime Video respectively.